Economic Watch: China's foreign trade sustains stable expansion despite external headwinds

BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade has maintained resilience and stable growth since the beginning of this year despite challenges from external environment, official data showed on Friday.

China's total goods imports and exports in yuan-denominated terms expanded 5.6 percent year on year in April, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Last month, China's goods exports rose 9.3 percent year on year to 2.27 trillion yuan (about 314 billion U.S. dollars), while imports went up 0.8 percent year on year to 1.57 trillion yuan.

Lyu Daliang, director of the GAC's Department of Statistics and Analysis, said China's foreign trade has sustained steady growth since the beginning of this year thanks to the concerted efforts of various localities and departments in the face of external shocks.

In the first four months of this year, China's total goods imports and exports in yuan-denominated terms expanded 2.4 percent to 14.14 trillion yuan, the data showed.

During the period, China's exports rose 7.5 percent to 8.39 trillion yuan while imports fell 4.2 percent to 5.75 trillion yuan.

The steady growth of China's foreign trade in the first four months fully reflected the country's economic resilience, said Wan Zhe, an expert from Beijing Normal University.

In particular, the robust foreign trade growth in April highlighted China's swift adjustment capability to cope with trade disputes and supply chain shocks, Wan said.

According to the GAC data, the growth rate of China's goods trade in April accelerated by 4.3 percentage points compared with the expansion recorded in the first quarter.

Exceeding market expectations, the latest performances of China's foreign trade sector have demonstrated the irreplaceability of the country's manufacturing sector within the global industrial chain, according to Wan.

The GAC data also showed continued structural improvement in China's foreign trade. In the first four months, China's export of mechanical and electrical products increased by 9.5 percent year on year to 5.04 trillion yuan, accounting for 60.1 percent of the country's total goods exports.

High-tech products showed outstanding performance with a total trade value of 1.52 trillion yuan in the first four months, a year on year increase of 7.4 percent, Lyu said.

In terms of trading partners, ASEAN remained China's largest trading partner in the January-April period. During this period, trade between China and the ASEAN bloc totaled 2.38 trillion yuan, a year on year increase of 9.2 percent.

During the same period, China's foreign trade with the European Union went up 1.1 percent year on year to 1.78 trillion yuan, while that with Belt and Road partner countries rose 3.9 percent to 7.25 trillion yuan.

China's foreign trade with the United States decreased by 2.1 percent year on year to 1.44 trillion yuan during this period, according to the data. ■